Patrick started the popular Velocouture group — a collection of cyclists with their stylish clothing — on Flickr a while back. To “make 2009 the year of Vélocouture,” he started the Velocouture blog (style that moves you) to discuss riding bikes with your clothes on and highlighting some of the more interesting photos posted to the group.

My contributions to Velocouture include this one of Emily in Menlo Park with her pink cruiser bike.

Try it, you’ll like it: Velocouture Blog

But it’s not me, it’s UltraRob. He’ll pick a winner at random for everybody who enters the contest by 8 PM U.S. Mountain Time tonight.

Peak chicken?

What I Saw At the Inauguration:

The traffic was so bad, and so chaotically handled, that everyone had a story. Mine: Stuck for more than an hour near the Mall one night and late for an appointment, I jumped out of a car and hailed an open-air bicycle with a backseat. The driver threw a blanket on me and began to pump the peddles. “What is this called?” I shouted as we raced around limos and town cars. I expected some politically correct name like Energy Saving Mobile Apparatus. He looked back at me quizzically. “A rickshaw!” We got there on time, 15 blocks in four minutes, and like a happy capitalist, the driver, gauging the moment, the need and the competition, opened bidding at $25. I was grateful to pay.

Gwadzilla in Washington DC has lots of bike and rickshaw photos from the inauguration:

• WABA bike valet. In spite of freezing conditions, an estimated 1.4% of inauguration attendees arrived by bicycle.
• These guys made some money.
• Bikes in DC.
• No other choices.

James and his team of celebrity judges have selected a winner for their bicycle design contest. Torkel Dohmer wins a Cannondale Bad Boy 700 bicycle for his efforts, which is a way better prize than the stickers and doodads I’ve been handing out!

The discussion on how the judges selected the winning entry is pretty fascinating, I think.

Have you seen this bicycle brake light?

Cabrillo College students will demonstrate their Energy Bike at the Swift Street Courtyard Bike Festival THIS SATURDAY in Santa Cruz, January 24th from 8:30 am to 4:00 pm. The energy bike does a good job showing how much effort is required to power incandescent versus fluorescent light bulbs.

The all day Bicycle Festival features an organized family ride to Wilder Ranch, BBQ, bike contest, raffle and more.

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS:

7:30 Stage Two Challenge Ride registration opens – pre-register at Active.com
8:30 Stage Two Challenge Ride
9:00 Bicycle Repair and Bicycle Safety Classes at Westend Studio Theater
10:30 Organized Family Ride to Wilder Ranch
12:00 Sausage Bar-B-Q in the tent between the Swift St Courtyard and the Bonny Doon building.
1:00 Bicycle Contest with prizes for Oldest Bike, Most Classic Bike, Goofiest Bike, Most Miles on the Odometer, Most Artistic Bike, Most Unusual Helmet
2:30 Raffle with amazing prizes

Carl in Longmont, Colorado says this looks like me.

This illustration is from the “winter” collection by artist Yuzuriha Satoshi in Tokyo, Japan. This illustration entitled “Koshu Kaido / Inume” shows a stop along the old “Koshu Highway.”

Satoshi-san is probably a randonneur. Many of his prints illustrate what a long distance cyclist may see while riding.

In his cyclist gallery and his seen gallery, Satoshi follows the Haiku tradition of splitting his illustrations into seasons: Spring 春, Summer 夏, Autumn 秋 and Winter 冬. Go take a look — it’s good stuff.

Chris @ Velo Orange just told me he posted about this also.